Thoughts on Erik Wemple's apology to James Bennet and to press integrity in general. Plus: Pilot's Glory, criminal justice reform, and Happy Birthday to me!
It’s good that more people are showing courage, and part of what makes that courage possible for some is the prior courage of others. If the world we want is one where truth-telling is ubiquitous, then a real path to get there is celebrating even lesser acts of bravery instead of breaking out a tape measurer to figure out who was braver than whom. I’m not saying I can’t also empathize with Batya for wanting an honest accounting. She and all of us should want that. It’s deserved. But I’m still celebrating that more and more people are speaking up. When the outcome might be more merciful than just, it helps to remember that virtue, in the end, is its own reward.
But to live in Oregon in 2020, watch the total abdication by local police, then watch the withdrawal of State Police, then literally uncontrolled rioting, far more injuries amongst police than self-appointed “legal monitors,” loons wearing homemade “Press” helmets or
recycled urban terrorists given total carte blanche, consider when - ever - in recent history, such urban terrorism was not merely condoned, but praised.
I’ve published dozens of op-eds, from the NYTIMES to the LATimes to the Oregonian, and only in the last few years have I had to submit to a level of censorship that went far beyond the editing i encountered for the first 15 of the last 20 years!
"You can read the particulars of the James Bennet incident in the piece, but in a nutshell: in June 2020, Cotton was Opinion editor at the NYT (and rumored to be the paper’s next executive editor); the page ran a piece by Sen. Tom Cotton" Doing a little copyediting. That is a Cotton too many, I think.
It’s good that more people are showing courage, and part of what makes that courage possible for some is the prior courage of others. If the world we want is one where truth-telling is ubiquitous, then a real path to get there is celebrating even lesser acts of bravery instead of breaking out a tape measurer to figure out who was braver than whom. I’m not saying I can’t also empathize with Batya for wanting an honest accounting. She and all of us should want that. It’s deserved. But I’m still celebrating that more and more people are speaking up. When the outcome might be more merciful than just, it helps to remember that virtue, in the end, is its own reward.
Well, here in Australia, it's already your birthday. So, Happy Birthday!
I disagree with Senator Cotton about a lot.
But to live in Oregon in 2020, watch the total abdication by local police, then watch the withdrawal of State Police, then literally uncontrolled rioting, far more injuries amongst police than self-appointed “legal monitors,” loons wearing homemade “Press” helmets or
recycled urban terrorists given total carte blanche, consider when - ever - in recent history, such urban terrorism was not merely condoned, but praised.
I’ve published dozens of op-eds, from the NYTIMES to the LATimes to the Oregonian, and only in the last few years have I had to submit to a level of censorship that went far beyond the editing i encountered for the first 15 of the last 20 years!
Happy Birthday!
The 'rainbow' you can see is, I believe, an example of a 'sun dog': https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_dog
Good stuff Nancy, thanks.
"You can read the particulars of the James Bennet incident in the piece, but in a nutshell: in June 2020, Cotton was Opinion editor at the NYT (and rumored to be the paper’s next executive editor); the page ran a piece by Sen. Tom Cotton" Doing a little copyediting. That is a Cotton too many, I think.